Public opinion poll on French real estate market: to buy or not to buy?

The French real estate market is looking favorable to the general public, based on the “moral des Français face au marché immobilier” public opinion poll.

French people still want to buy

Despite the rise in prices, 61% of French people consider now a good time to buy a property.

The French real estate market has rarely been so dynamic, at least according to those polled by IFOP, International Market Research Group, as part of a French real estate market public opinion poll created for La Fédération nationale de l’immobilier (FNAIM) in 2012.

This poll measures the momentum of the market, taking into account the average percentage of people who believe that now is a good time to buy versus the average percentage of people who estimate that now is a good time to sell.

The right time to buy

In June 2018, this “index” stood at 53%. Out of 100 respondents, 61 believe that the current economic situation is either semi-favorable or very favorable to the purchase of a property, while 44% believe that the same is true for the sale of a property.

“61% is very high,” notes Jean-Marc Torrollion, President of Fnaim, who adds that “44% in favor of sales is also very interesting, it means that the challenge at the moment is to find sellers. That being said, on average, the dynamism of the real estate market remains very strong, which bodes well for the future.”

Sales volume reaches “a ceiling”

In addition to Fnaim’s poll, another figure expresses the dynamism of the real estate market: the number of sales. While the last twelve months have seen a 3.5% increase in the number of sales, with a total of 950,000 recorded at the end of June 2018, the volume of trade is down 0.1% compared to December 2017. According to Jean-Marc Torrollion, “it’s a slight slowdown, but the pace is still high. Despite a strong momentum, the volume of sales have probably reached a ceiling.”

A very balanced market

Another takeaway from the poll is that the real estate market is also very balanced. To calculate the market imbalance indicator, Fnaim subtracts the number of those in favour of selling a property from the number of those in favour of buying it. This year, this indicator is 17. It is approaching its “historical low” (16), which dates back to 2012.

Compared to 2016, the market appears to be half as unbalanced (from 34 to 17). The number of buyers remains higher than the number of sellers, but the gap is narrowing. “The indicator shows that demand remains strong and that sellers are also present,” says Jean-Marc Torrollion.

Concern about second homes

Despite this favourable context, only 37% of respondents believe that the current economic situation is favourable to the purchase of a second home. “A figure that reflects both the cacophony surrounding their taxation and the government’s negative discourse on the issue,” says Jean-Marc Torrollion. But this remains a major tourism issue and the government must clarify its policy on this issue,” he said. Other surveys also highlight the interest of French people in this type of purchase.

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